Oley Valley, Bermudian Springs off to strong starts: Field hockey around District 3

A year ago, Oley Valley won the District 3-AA field hockey championship.

Only so much can be seen in the first week of a season, but there is every reason to believe that the Lynx will contend for a repeat.

Oley Valley opened its season 2-0-1, tying Warwick 1-1 to start things off before beating Lehighton 8-0 and Spring-Ford 3-0.

Nine players have scored the 12 goals for the Lynx. Carly Kauffman, Erin Gillingham and Skyler Fretz each have two goals. Fretz scored the winning penalty stroke in last year's district final against Greenwood.

Berks County's top scorers are back

Karlie Heistand picked up in 2013 right where she left off in 2012.

Last fall the Hamburg forward scored 25 goals and had 15 assists. After just three games, she already has seven goals and six assists in this campaign.

The Hawks are 2-1, sandwiching an 11-0 win over Wyomissing and a 6-0 win over Daniel Boone around a 4-3 loss to Gov. Mifflin.

Ashley Hoffman of Twin Valley is also coming off of a strong offensive year. She had 17 goals last year, and already has five in just two games this year.

It may be hard to picture for anyone who saw Boiling Springs defeat Bermudian Springs 11-0 in the Bubblers' tournament final on Saturday, but the Eagles are actually off to a very good start.

Bermudian Springs has won all three of its other games in easy fashion. The Eagles opened with a 5-1 win over York Suburban last Friday, and won their first game of the Bubbler tournament 5-1 over New Oxford. Then, Bermudian Springs bounced back from their loss to Boiling Springs by downing Eastern York 8-0 on Tuesday.

Mackenzie Farley is leading the Eagles with five goals. Alyssa McCreary has four goals and Katie Johnston has three.

Entering Wednesday, the only other YAIAA team to win its first two games was Susquehannock, which beat Hanover 5-0 and Littlestown 4-2. Alesha Herman has three goals.